The launch of a European banking stablecoin under MiCAR marks a milestone for the continent’s digital payments landscape. Nine major European banks — ING, Banca Sella, KBC, Danske Bank, DekaBank, UniCredit, SEB, CaixaBank, and Raiffeisen Bank International — have joined forces to create the first pan-European, euro-pegged stablecoin fully regulated under the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR).
The Genius Act and MiCAR represent two radically different approaches to regulating stablecoins, with the United States betting on deregulatory expansion and the European Union doubling down on sovereignty and oversight. But is the Genius Act really that smart?
Italy has officially extended its transitional regime for crypto operators registered as Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs), reshaping the timeline for implementing the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR). This MiCAR extension is more than a procedural delay — it reveals implicit tensions and strategic recalibrations in adapting to a radically new European regulatory framework for crypto.
